March 28, 2024

Voting ends 12/23/2012 10:00 PM

5th annual –Venzano was the winner in 2008, 2009 , 2010 & 2011 Crest View was 2nd Place in 2010, 2011 

The goal is to create a festive atmosphere and spirit of friendly competition.

*Venzano is not technically part of San Elijo Hills Association…but they share a fence line, trails, and schools with San Elijo Hills and have always been included in the spirit of the contest  …Enjoy  “Life in The Hills” .

39 thoughts on “5th Annual San Elijo Hills – Neighborhood Holiday Lights Competition

  1. Please people…….no negative comments about Venzano this year! They are our friends and neighbors. Let’s enjoy the neighborly holiday spirit, shall we?!!

      1. So sad. I live in Venzano and would love if they could take us out of this competition. Love my neighborhood and I don’t think we deserve to be treated this way when we pay our taxes just like everyone else – but belong to a different HOA.

  2. Come check out the lights sync’d to music on 10 houses in Cedar Crossing at the top of Archer Rd cul de sac. Bottorf family built the whole thing including the radio station 87.9 to hear the music when driving through.

  3. Drove around the Hills this evening with the family. After many “oohs” and “aaahs” and “how cutes”, we decided Venzano has the best overall neighborhood lights and Archer has the absolute best cul de sac in the Hills. Great job and thanks to all! Merry Christmas!

  4. Got to give it to Cedar Crossing this year due to the cul de sac on Archer. What a display!! Coordinating with neighbors and programming all of the lights must have taken forever. Thanks for making SEH a great place to live

  5. It’s not even close. Venzano has by far the best “neighborhood” lights. The competition is not for the best “cul-de-sac”.

  6. Just drove around tonight with the kids and we all thought Venzano had the best overall neighborhood in terms of lights and decor. We also love, love, loved the cul-de-sac in Cedar Crossing!! How cool was that?!! We would still give it to Venzano, though, because of the large percentage of homes decorated to the MAX!

  7. Nice comment buddy! people worked hard to make that “cul-de-sac” your not Santa, your Looser Santa….

    1. It’s not a “worked hard” competition. It’s a “neighborhood” decorating light competition and Venzano did the best job this year. If the entire Cedar Crossing neighborhood decorated and then you added in the light show in the cul-de-sac, then they would have easily won.

  8. Thats not the point Jerk, your comments down grade the effort those people made! Guess its up to the voters!

  9. This is suppose to be a friendly competition in the San Elijo neighborhood to show their Holiday Spirit. Not a talk crap competition. Some people really need to grow up. Kudos to ALL neighborhoods that decorate their homes and neighborhood. Good Job!!!

  10. No need to called Santa a loser (or did you really mean looser?) or a jerk. Name calling is not necessary people especially during Christmas. Cedar Crossing has nice lights but Venzano has more spirit and better lights.

  11. We are visiting from out of town and my family member took my 3 kids and I around to see all the neighborhoods here in SEH. We thought we were dreaming and the kids (3, 4, 5) were pretty much screaming all the way through the Venzano neighborhood. They were also excited to see all of the menorahs and hanaka decorations. Everyone who decorated in this lovely town did an amazing job! May the best neighborhood win!
    Merry Christmas!

  12. Thats my point exactly saying they have more spirit is a rude thing to say! about 100 votes for Venzano in the past hour???? Sounds like someone is padding the lead to assure a win!

  13. Wow, I noticed the sudden jump for Venzano as well. Looks like we need to cheat to win. That’s right, I said “we” as I am a Venzano homeowner WITH a light display. I voted for Cedar Crossing however due to the amount of effort and neighborly coordination. Any neighborhood can stick lights on a house and throw crap on the front lawn.

    1. I live in Venzano and my family decorates because we love Christmas (not to win a competition). So I don’t care what neighborhood or cul-de-sac wins. Also, saying someone or some thing has more spirit is not rude.

      1. This made me chuckle. Are you people for real? Calling eachother loser Santa, and jerks? Pretty funny. Merry Christmas everyone! May Venzano win!!!!!

  14. It is rude! Just because some of their neighbors don’t decorate shouldn’t take away from the effort they made! They went way beyond just throwing up lights and decorations, coordination and technology like that takes a lot of free time and money! Anyone who decorates has plenty of spirit not just Venzano!

  15. It makes me sad to see such mean-spirited, nasty comments about something that supposed to be centered on the beauty and joy of the season. The only consolation for the rest of us should be that you represent the few and not the many. Take Venzano out of the running next year – I don’t think it will make the lights display any less beautiful or dampen the spirit of the neighborhood, and it will still be there year after year for all to enjoy, contest or no contest. I feel sorry for people who have so much anger that they have to spread it over to a silly light-hearted contest.

  16. That’s the spirit Ralphie! You are getting something very special this year for Christmas. Just don’t shoot your eye out!

  17. I probably won’t have a job this time next year so I will be available to hang Christmas lights.

  18. Whole think stinks, I am sorry for using terms like Jerk and Looser but the comments made provoked it! If this contest is going to become a look at me Im better than you then eliminate it! Sounds like a bunch of people who like to keep score to me… You win Merry Christmas!

  19. All I have to say is WWS(anta)D. Come on. Enjoy the holiday instead of throwing poop at your neighbors.

  20. These comments are so sad and lack a maturity chip. We are one of the houses on Archer and could care less who “wins.” Life is not a big competition. Please put your energy into sending positive Christmas cheer — especially this year that has been sad on so many levels.

  21. I love how Venzano really bonds together and mostly all of the houses are decorated, whether for Chistmas or Hanukkah. I love seeing all of the SEH lights!

  22. As the creators of the light display on Archer, we are saddened by the way this friendly competition turned so negative and the the spirit of the holidays have gotten lost. It is the time of year to bring joy to those around you and that’s what our intentions were with our light display. I hope everyone has the opportunity this holiday season to drive around and enjoy this wonderful community we live in…have a happy and safe holiday!

  23. Hey everyone…. it’s for the kids right???? Not sure the kids make a distinction between which SEH neighborhood they live in. Let’s move on. Happy Holidays to everyone! Especially in light of what some other communities across our country are going through right now.

  24. I live in Woodley’s Glenn and think it’s awful how Venzano is being treated by everyone. You are right, kids do NOT make the distinction. I drove my kids around and they loved Venzano the best but they also really loved the cul-de-sac in Cedar Crossing. Venzano has a ton of holiday spirit and it’s just awful that people want them out of the competition. I heard that they are lighting 26 luminaries on Christmas Eve in memory of the school shooting in CT. What a great neighborhood!

  25. My wife and I live in Venzano and my sis and her family live on Archer. BOTH neighborhoods are very festive and deserve to win. I say give it to Cedar Crossing this year for all of the hard work and co-ordination it must have taken to setup the radio station and syncing the lights. Although, I would have to disagree with some that said throwing lights on the house and lawn are easy.

    The person calling everyone a jerk and a loser needs to have an eggnog and relax. Also, I suggest that San Elijo Life fix the poll next year to only allow one vote per household (or ip address) or setup a voting station in a store in the town center. Otherwise, it’s just a competition of who can submit the most votes.

    Merry Christmas to everyone in SEH. If you and your family are happy and healthy, then you have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. Please pray for all the families in Newton that lost loved ones last week.

  26. I was going to leave this alone but I couldn’t. My family is one of those in the cul de sac on Archer Rd and I am disgusted by this entire thing. We didn’t put our lights up to win a competition, we did it because it was fun for the neighborhood. After reading all the comments, I felt like unplugging my lights last night. The horrible comments back and forth are laughable and worse, no one is putting their real names. The Bottorf family spent a year working on the radio station and syncing all the lights, I know that it wasn’t for some silly competition but was for the 40 people who were standing in front of my house on Sunday night having a great time dancing with their families.

    I would also like to suggest that the poll be changed next year. I have found it odd, that on the first day of voting one neighborhood had close to 100 votes when I’m pretty certain no where near to that many people had driven through the neighborhoods yet. Then to see the numbers jumping up (especially yesterday) in such large increments is sad. There are much bigger things in this world to worry about than what neighborhood wins a light competition and what neighborhood is or isn’t within a boundary. Let’s be better examples for our children!

  27. Driving through the hills to look at Christmas lights was extra special for my kids this year. They were in complete awe over the musical lights on Archer. Thank you so much to the families in Venzano and Cedar Crossing for taking the time to put up some awesome lights. It really was a special memory for our family this year so THANK YOU!!!!

  28. Venzano looks amazing as always rounding out with the candy canes.

    Archer your light presentation is amazing and ground breaking! What a treat, BRAVO!!!!!

    The Hills are alive with amazing lights this year. Keep the spirit friendly!

  29. After driving down all of these neighborhoods Venzano has the best display and spirit. I see all these posts that talk about a “real SEH” neighborhood and to me that is just petty talk. Get your neighborhood together and fire them up to give Venzano a run for their money, but until then complaining about it is just annoying.

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